Movement for Textbook Revisions to Resolve Anti-business Sentiments

The economic circle of Korea is starting a movement for a comprehensive reform on economic textbooks to resolve anti-business sentiments.

The “Council of Business Supporters,” which consists of the five major economic groups including the Federation of Korean Industries and the Korean Chamber of Commerce, along with the Korea Venture Business Association and YMCA, held a meeting at the Seoul Plaza Hotel in the morning of December 24, and announced, “A considerable amount of content in the textbooks of public schools, from elementary to high school, encourages anti-business and anti-market sentiments.”

The council will first identify anti-business and anti-market contents in those textbooks and work in close cooperation to have the resulting information reflected in the eighth reform on educational processes.

The Korean Chamber of Commerce already suggested in October of last year for the revision of 62 statements in current economic and social studies textbooks that may cause misunderstanding about businesses, and the suggestions on 40 of those items were accounted for in the first semester of this year.

The council also decided to expand access to economic education for teachers, students and parents to enhance their understanding about the market economy, businesses and business leaders. For this effort, the council will hold more “Studying Economics with CEOs” events, where former and current chief economic officers hold lectures about the economy, increasing the number of sessions from 70 or so of this year to somewhere around 1,000 next year.

In addition to the joint effort with the Council of Business Supporters, each economic group is independently also planning to help expand the opportunities for education regarding the market.

Keuk-In Bae bae2150@donga.com